Warriors of Wisdom

Chapter One

My life is a mess. You're about to read about how I fought monsters, traveled across the country, and faced death about a dozen times. If you're reading this, it's only a matter of time before they find you too. Don't say I didn't warn you.

My name is Callisto Gates. I'm a demigod. Now I know what you're thinking. Wow Callisto! You're a demigod? I want to be a demigod too! Trust me, this is serious business. Don't think this is some sort of fantasy world. It can get you killed. I was named after the Greek hero, Callisto. Don't think it's so great. My family is from Puerto Rico, so I don't know why they'd name me after a Greek heroine. Plus, that Callisto got turned into a bear. When we learned about Callisto in my history class a few years ago, I went home that day yelling at my dad about why I was named after her. He just smiled and said, "Your mother named you. I never knew why, though I was very fond of the name. Maybe it was because Callisto attracted the attention of Zeus, the king of the gods. Maybe it was because she was a fearsome warrior. She probably believed you would be the same one day." I highly doubted that. I can't be a fearsome warrior, because a dyslexic and ADHD warrior would be kinda stupid. And I don't know how a Greek god could be attracted to me, much less the king of the gods. And Greek gods aren't even real. Or so I thought...

It started out normal enough. When I got to school, the usual stuff happened. Popular girls making fun of the nerdy kids (aka me) teachers yelling at kids, and me, sitting alone by myself reading a book, with no annoying friends to bother me (don't you dare feel sorry for me that I don't have any friends). It couldn't have been better. It was when I was done school when things started happening.

I was walking home from school. I took my normal route home near the CVS pharmacy, and continued walking down Main Street. Suddenly, I felt a cold wind, which I thought was a little weird, because it was December and I thought it couldn't get any colder. But before I could register this, I was knocked off my feet and dragged into a dark alleyway.

"Hey!" I yelled. I was slammed against the back wall of the alley. I looked in front of me, but at first no one was there. Then, two dark figures with black hoodies and really baggy pants started walking towards me. They almost blended in with the shadows of the alleyway. They were very tall, maybe about ten feet tall from what I could see sitting down, which was a strange height for a normal human being. Then I started to think, maybe they weren't so normal.

"Who are you?" one of them asked. His voice was deep and hollow, like those rappers who rap about pandas or whatnot (our generation is weird).

"Why do you want to know?" Pick on somebody else!" I yelled at the two creatures. I started to get up and run, but they slammed me against the back wall hard. It was like all of a sudden someone dropped out of the sky and their velocity was so high that it could literally break your back from one hit. I decided to sit back down for a little more.

They faced each other. "Surely you picked up on her scent?" The one on the right said. His voice had the same deepness as the other one.

"Of course. It's very strong. Almost Big Three scent, but not strong enough. Probably one of the other major Olympians." the other one replied.

Olympians. The Greek gods. Why would these guys think I had the scent of Greek god? If these guys were smelling some Greek gods, then I think these guys had issues.

The one on the left turned to me. "Well you are undetermined. But you have the scent. The Boss said that we should shed as much demigod flesh as we can before the big day. We must take, ah, drastic measures."

The two guys took off their hoods, and at that moment, for the first time in my life, I was TRULY terrified. Their faces were normal enough, but very ugly. Their skin was covered in so much dirt it basically gave them another skin tone. Their greasy hair stuck up from all sides and the weirdest things had gotten caught in the tangles. I saw one dagger, a hairbrush, a hammer, and many other things. They had huge noses, dried and cracked lips, and one huge eye in the middle of their foreheads.

Cyclopes, I thought

The one on the left grabbed my whole body in his giant fist. I kept squirming and fidgeting and moving as much as I could, but the Cyclops kept his grip on me. I kept yelling "Let me go!" but the Cyclops refused to let go of his precious prey. I thought this was the end. So I did what a normal person would do in this situation. I yelled out an ear-piercing scream.

It was so unbelievable I'd think I dreamt about it. The Cyclops that was holding me dropped me and covered his ears. "No! It can't be!" he hollered. He opened his eyes and started wobbling around with his arms stretched out in front of him, as if it were a completely lightless night, and he was trying to figure out where he was going.

The other Cyclops copied his actions. "How is it possible? Get it away from me!" The two Cyclops ran away from me, yelling like little girls about something I didn't even know.

I sat there gasping, wondering what I had just done. I got up, brushed off the dirt on my jeans, and started to get out of the alley when I heard footsteps, and a boy appeared at the beginning of the alleyway.

I recognized the boy. His name was Asher Jones. He was in my pre-algebra class. We never really talked, except for the time when he asked to borrow a pencil from me. His mahogany-colored hair was messed up and flecked with dirt. His clothes were ripped and filthy, as if he ran through a cyclone of sewage.

"Asher?" I asked. "What are you doing here? And what happened to you?"

Asher sighed. "Long story. Where are the Cyclopes?"

I wondered how he knew they were here. "They ran away." I answered

He scratched his head. "That's strange. Cyclopes don't usually run away like that. Come on. Follow me. I need to take you somewhere."

"Take me somewhere? Where?" I asked

"Somewhere safe. Chiron sent me here a few weeks ago to find a demigod. I think you're the one." Demigod? I didn't know what that meant, but I wasn't feeling very godly.

"Follow me. Our ride is just around the corner. He led me out of the alleyway and back down Main Street. And there, parked in front of the CVS pharmacy that I walk by every day, was a beautiful golden chariot, with large, majestic horses. As I got closer, I realized that they seemed to have feathers on their bodies instead of fur. I figured they weren't regular horses. They were pegasi, with white, feathery wings and a giant wingspan. I was surprised that I didn't see them before.

"Hop on." Asher said, He held out a hand to me, but I got up on my own. And together, we soared out of Pittsburgh.